Troy eyes trip to New Orleans Bowl

By Drew Champlin

Published: December 2, 2008

TROY — Should Troy beat Arkansas State on Saturday and win the Sun Belt Conference outright, the Trojans know where they’re going — to New Orleans.

Head coach Larry Blakeney said Monday that rules stated that since the Trojans would be the only 7-win team in the league, they would be sent to the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, set for Dec. 21 against a Conference USA team, likely Memphis or Southern Miss, both of which are 6-6.

Troy’s game Saturday against Arkansas State (6-5, 4-2 SBC) is at 6 p.m. at Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium. The Trojans (7-4, 5-1) have won shares of the past two SBC titles and clinched a third with a 48-3 win over UL-Lafayette on Nov. 22. A Troy win would give the Trojans its first outright SBC title.

“There’s no understanding to be had,” Blakeney said. “If we win this week, we’re going to New Orleans, period. Those are the bowl rules. In actuality, the champion of the Sun Belt goes to the R&L New Orleans, period. No way out.”

It’s a different scenario than last year, where Troy went 8-4 but lost on the Sun Belt tiebreaker to Florida Atlantic and other conferences filled their bowl spots. If Troy loses to ASU Saturday, the destination is likely the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham on Dec. 29 against a team from the Big East, likely a potential 7-5 team such as Rutgers or Connecticut.

“The 29th sounds good, but playing the Big East, what’s the difference?” Blakeney said. “The only good thing about it is it’s close and it might help us with recruiting, but you can’t do any recruiting on the 29th anyway because it’s a dead period.
“I’ve been out there with eight wins and no bowl, but I can tell you if we win, we’re going to New Orleans.”

Sun Belt commissioner Wright Waters earlier told media outlets that the Sun Belt would release Troy to another bowl, but that was contingent on another team in the league finishing with seven wins, he said on the SBC teleconference Monday. He thought UL-Lafayette would, but the Ragin’ Cajuns lost at FAU before losing 48-3 to Troy Nov. 22. The winner of Wednesday’s ULL-Middle Tennessee game will be 6-6, as is FAU. Arkansas State is 6-5.

Players were informed by coaches that a win would send them back to New Orleans, where the Trojans beat Rice 41-17 in 2006.

“New Orleans Bowl, period,” linebacker Bear Woods said. “That’s what we’re playing for and that’s where we’re going. One hundred percent. That’s the guarantee. We’re going to New Orleans.”

But in that bowl game, it hasn’t been close. Troy routed Rice in 2006 and FAU beat Memphis soundly last year. The New Orleans Bowl gets one of Conference USA’s lower-ranked bowl-eligible teams.

“When you think about it, that’s the only downfall about New Orleans,” safety Tavares Williams said. “The trip is great, but we’d play a Conference USA team that we feel like we could dominate. They don’t send their No. 1 or No. 2 team to New Orleans. We get one of the mid (fifth or sixth place) teams that really can’t compete with us, but they’re just in a bigger conference.

“It would be nice to play a team that people would think are better than us. But the best team in our conference goes to New Orleans, and we’d like to say we’re the best team in our conference.”

Another call to arms: Athletics director Steve Dennis made another plea to fans to come support the Trojans Saturday. Troy announced 19,443 for the game against ULL when Dennis and other Troy administrators made the same call.

“That’s a goal, to sell it out,” Dennis said. “We want to get it done. We need all Trojans to get to the game and get to the ticket office and watch us play for an outright conference championship. We’re tired of the co-stuff. The call to all our fans is to be there, pack it and support them. They’ll respond. We feel confident.”

Other notes: Reserve lineman Wes Potter is doubtful for Saturday’s game with a sprained ankle. … The game features the SBC’s top two sack leaders, as ASU defensive end Alex Carrington leads the league with 10.5 sacks and Troy’s Brandon Lang is second with 9.5. … Troy wideout Jerrel Jernigan, with 65 receptions, is seven away from tying the single-season mark of 72, set by Danny Grant in 1968. The Division I-A mark was set by Gary Banks with 68 in 2006. Jernigan still isn’t 100 percent from midseason knee surgery, but has played through it.